1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control device for an air conditioner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, air conditioners for conditioning the temperature, humidity, or ventilation of the interior of offices, houses, and vehicles are widely used. For example, a home air conditioner has a variety of functions for detecting an outdoor or room temperature, controlling the blowing air temperature or air quantity so that the room temperature reaches a desired value as soon as possible, controlling the operating speed to obtain a cooling/heating capability in accordance with the request of a user, adjusting the flowing direction of the cool or warm air, blowing the cool or warm air with a minimum wait time when necessary, and the like. Hence, various types of air conditioners having different functions in accordance with the requests of the user have been developed.
Control of an air conditioner is usually performed by a microcomputer. To provide various types of air conditioners, microcomputers for exclusive use in which data (hereinafter referred to as "specific data") concerning functions, capacities, and characteristics of respective types are built-in have been put into practical use (e.g., see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-91644). The number of different types of air conditioners has increased as there has been a variety of desires of users, and currently several tens of types of air conditioners are now on the market when home air conditioners are taken as an example. However, it is not advisable from a design viewpoint, to manufacture microcomputers for meeting separately the different functions and capacities for each of these different types, as it results in increased cost for each microcomputer.